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RoboticsFall09

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Print and staple the exam and any other documents relating to it when you are done.

This is a silent exam. There are dividers up between computers to help you focus on your own work.

Your exam is 20% of your semester grade.

Continuing study in Technology at DHS

Courses:

Web Design

Computer Programming and C

Computer Programming in Java

Computer Applications

Principles of Technology

Technology and Engineering (Full year, 5 credits)

Building and Reparing Computers

Robotics

After school

Middle School robotics team

This spring, we are starting up an underwater robotics team at the middle school. If you would like to help as a mentor, meet with Mr. Connors on Friday after the exam. We will meet on Fridays at the middle school.

After school projects

So now you know how do do lots of interesting stuff. Come by in the afternoon to create some great personal projects.

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This will be worth half of your project grade, or 15% of the term grade.

After selecting a robotic system to work with, you will be using some basic programming systems to write code that controls the output of motors, sound, light and gathers input from sensors like light, touch and other sensing tools.

Getting the programming environment set up so that you can write and read the programs is a good first step.

Here are some guidelines for your work on this project

30 - Documentation

Using your Ning blog, you'll keep track of all the websites that you find information about your system.

You will also keep track of your progress on the project by taking photos and video of significant setups.

You will also post your code, either on google documents, shared as a web page or directly on your blog.

You can save your code and upload it to your ning account.

Really excellent documentation is very valuable to the community of people working on projects like these and a stellar effort here could earn you some extra credit.

30 - Programs

You will write at least three to six programs that make use of the output devices and input devices on your 'bot.

These programs will be written by you and your partner.

All programs will need to have your first name and initial commented into the code along with the date and file name.

30 - Construction of the robot/environment

You will build a robot with materials available.

These materials can be LEGOs, metal, plastic, etc.

You may also build an environment for the vehicle/robot to operate in.

If your 'bot is already mostly constructed, you will need more emphasis on the environment.

10 - Paper portfolio

At the completion of the project, you will create a paper portfolio with

12-16-09

In this next project, you can choose from a variety of programmable robotic systems.

We'll take a look at them and assess them on a couple of important points.

Here are some questions to get you rolling:

What is the system? Look it up online and find out what it is, who makes it, what the website is etc.

How is it programmed? What languages work for it, what interfaces/cables/towers does it need?

What have people done with this system? Find examples online of robotics projects done in the system and show them off.

Find the community of experimenters. With each of these systems, there is a robust community of makers out there trying and showing off their work. Look through the forums, find blog posts about it and see what people are saying about their work.

As you search for the information on the systems, make a blog post about what you find. Include pictures, videos, links and tell your opinions about what you find.

You will be working in pairs on this project, each person will have their own device to work with and program, but you'll be on similar systems.

In this project, you'll

Find out about the systems and how to use them.

Learn how to connect the system to the computer

Learn how to write the codes that will help you operate the system

Learn how to control the input (sensors) and output (motors, speakers, lights, etc) with code

Students and participants will know how to safely disassemble a CD drive or similar electrojunk for parts and project supplies so that they can name the parts inside the device, compare the varieties of manufacturing techniques to solve the same problem and organize the usable parts and components for future use in projects.

Process:

What do you have?

Probably the first thing to do is look at the exterior of the drives you have.

Make note of any markings on the drive. Some things you will likely find are the manufacturer, model number, read/write speed of the drive and my favorite: Date of Manufacture.

The date of manufacture will give you some context to judge the drives in your collection by. Often the older the drive is, the more "off the shelf" the components are.

Use your camera:

Take some photos with your camera or camera phone to show the process of taking the drive apart.

You can also have participants and students take pictures of each of the systems they find, and each of the types of components they find inside.

Case disassembly:

Put on your safety glasses.

Use a screwdriver to take the metal case off the drive. It will usually be 4 phillips screws on the sides that hold it together.

In taking off the metal case, try to keep it from getting deformed. The steel can be useful later. You may find that there are plastic tabs holding one of the pieces in place.

Try to get the case to just fall apart without having to be forced. Most of the time it will just come apart after you remove the screws and press on the plastic tabs.

If you do have to tug on the parts, you may have missed a screw under a sticker. If all else fails, make sure all of the eyes are protected, and pull it apart carefully, probably below the table.

Pop open the CD drawer by straightening out a paper clip and slipping it into the hole on the front panel. The drawer should open easily. You might even find a disc inside.

To remove the drawer, you may have to pry apart the plastic sides, or it might just come apart easily. Different models have varying designs. Be careful if you put force on it that the parts don't fly and hurt somebody.

Be careful not to Over-Disassemble!

You may find that there is a dc motor that is in a plastic housing that holds it in contact with a gear which could serve as a nice little drive wheel. Take it out, but secure it together so it can be used in a future project. If it doesn't stay together with screws or pressure fitting plastic, run a bit of tape around it to hold it.

You may also find that the CD reading eye moves nicely on its' slides. If it is controlled by a DC motor, this could be a neat system to use later.

Basically, look at the things you are taking apart, and see if they can be used as systems or components.

Securing the wires coming from the motor with a bit of tape will help keep them from breaking off later.

Motors and how to read them:

You should find two types of motors inside: DC motor and Stepper motor.

The easiest way to identify a DC motor is by looking at the number of wires coming off it. Most have just two wires. DC motors are controlled by sending electricity through the motor, causing it to turn either clockwise or counterclockwise. Sometimes you may find that there are several more wires going into another area of the case. These can be to an encoder that helps read the speed and direction of the motor.

Stepper motors have more wires coming from them, and often are built right onto a circuit board. These turn by receiving a series of pulses, each of which advances the motor one step. By controlling the timing and quantity of the pulses with a microcontroller, it is possible to precisely set the speed and even the number of degrees the motor will turn.

Save the good bits

As you go, put the useful parts into plastic bags or bins. Label the bags with scraps of paper for easy identification.

You should be able to find at least the following:

DC motors, usually one will open the tray, sometimes you will find a second to move the eye.

Gears to drive the mechanisms

Switches, either momentary pushbutton or other mechanical contactors

Headphone jack

Potentiometer

LED

Screws

Desolder the components you want from the circuit boards:

The headphone jack, LED, momentary switches and sometimes motors will be soldered directly to the circuit boards. You can use a desoldering braid and an iron to free these items from the boards. If they have fittings, you may want to keep the fittings and instead remove the headers that connect them to the board. You should be able to scrape the coating off the metal traces to solder the fittings to a wire for future projects.